My brother Tom drove up from the Bay Area during the night, camping just outside of Burney, and came by the motel around 8:30 to rescue me and my poor sick body. That loperamide from Rite Aid helped plug me up quite a bit--I actually got four hours of uninterrupted sleep!--and my tummy is gurgling a lot less. I actually was able to eat a bit, though I'm not hungry at all I know I need something.

We gave Sage a ride out to the trail and bid him farewell, sniff, I'll miss hiking with him and maybe we'll catch up further down the trail. Then Tom and I headed on down to the sizzling Central Valley, stopping at Dutch Bros Coffee in Redding for some pick-me-up. I hesistated getting anything, but decided I could use the calories in The Annihilator (small size), even if it came with caffeine. I had a quart of Gatorade afterwards and was feeling more and more decent, maybe 30% instead of 10%.

I dug around for airfares; Redding has a connecting flight to San Diego via SFO on United but it leaves around 4:30. Sacramento has a Southwest nonstop at 2. Oakland has a 4pm Southwest flight, SFO has flights with seating around 6 on United and Southwest, but it's always a hassle to get to SFO, particularly if my tummy goes south. Hm. I looked and figured that Sacramento was the best choice, we could easily make it there around 12:30, and Southwest will refund the fare if we don't, so I booked it... and we booked it, and made it.

Sacramento has a new shiny terminal with a silly short shuttle train, and I checked my backpack and waited for my flight; I would've explored the terminal more (which is nicely done) but as long as I keep my torso rigid I'm hoping my bowels don't do something unpleasant. I kinda wish I would've bought Depends or something (shudder, here comes old age) at Rite Aid; I've lost weight to the point my shorts are super baggy so I'm sure they wouldn't be too noticeable.

But everything held together, the plane came in and I got a aisle seat in the very last row next to the lavs and didn't need to get up. I even felt some hunger and ate the peanuts and the pretzels and a Sprite, woo hoo, things are getting normal. In San Diego, the cool marine layer was blowing in, it was 73 degrees and mild and wonderful, and my backpack was the first off the plane. I called up an UberX to pick me up at the airport and was home just 25 minutes after landing, yay.

I showered. I napped. I petted the cats. It felt good to be home, even with Chris gone. I read some backed up New Scientists and Economists, I made a liter of Nuun Fruit Punch electrolyte, I ate a bit more. It feels good to be home.

Yet there's something in me that says that my summer's not over, that this is more of another hiatus than a break. There's still 10 or more weeks left, and I'd really like to see some of the spectacular parts of the PCT from Mt Hood north through Washington State and into Canada, the Eagle Creek trail and Goat Rocks and the North Cascades. I have the permits for doing it, ()including the entry permit into Canada!), and it's easy to get back on the PCT with public transit from the Portland airport with the Mt Hood Express bus. I need to think about this more, but this break might be a good thing in resetting both my body and my mood. Sure, I won't be doing the whole PCT, but I might just enjoy it a lot more if I take a more casual approach to making miles every day, and take more stops and rest days along the way.